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Young in, Hunter out in battle for last spot

John - Red's Army (@RedsArmy_John) October 24, 2016 Celtics News, James Young, RJ Hunter 31 Comments

Today was the deadline for cutting the roster down to 15, and in a move none of us expected a few months ago, James Young is sticking around and RJ Hunter (on his birthday, no less) is looking for a new home.

James Young has made the Boston Celtics 15-man roster, league source tells @TheVertical.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) October 24, 2016

Boston Celtics have waived RJ Hunter, source told ESPN.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) October 24, 2016

I’m a little surprised it worked out this way simply because Hunter is the more recent pick, and he’s not been horribly outplayed by Young. And I still like Hunter’s overall basketball IQ… but there is a knock on him that he’s not exactly going all-out all the time and his shot hasn’t been very consistent (to be nice).

In the end, neither was ever going to make much impact. In a pinch, they probably feel Young can come in and contribute defensively more than Hunter can, and that’s really where this tie was broken. Young is more physically advanced than Hunter and he’ll be asked to switch like the rest of the versatile wings on this team. If he’s ever pressed into service, he’ll be able to do that better than Hunter.

So good luck, RJ Hunter. I still think you’re an NBA player, but I guess time will tell. There are NBA teams out there with more roster space and time to figure out whether I’m right or wrong here.

Sean McLaughlin

So Young HAS been going all out and has a consistent shot??? lol No, this is not as I expected. Either Danny’s related to that kid in some way or he has something on him. Can’t figure out for the life of me why Danny wants to keep him around… sigh….
- Dave
  
  Either he lit a fire under his ass or he’s just helping Young elevate his stock before he sends his ass to LA with some trade plodder during the deadline for the Truth 😉
  - Sean McLaughlin
    
    Ok, I’d be on board if that latter idea was the case. lol
- Andre
  
  I sincerely hope this ends up being the right decision, or one that we forget down-the-line. There was little doubt in my head that RJ was the guy, he’s scored more in the pre-season and I thought more importantly has actually made some 3s that were impressive. I’ve yet to see Young make a 30 footer in a game….
  - Sean McLaughlin
    
    Yeah, neither guy was gonna be even close to a game changer (at least this year), so it’s not a BIG deal. I, personally, was just much more impressed with Hunter. Hard to argue with Ainge’s decisions lately, though, so I imagine it’s for the best one way or another.
    - Andre
      
      Yeah I agree that it is highly unlikely either flourishes, and DA has been more hit than miss lately. We can only wait and see what comes of them.
  - Sean
    
    Young is garbge
- Curt Hays
  
  “After failing to find a suitable trade, Hunter was waived by the Celtics.”
  
  Danny is probably still trying to deal James Young.
- Curt Hays
  
  Also, wow…RJ is 2 years older than James Young.
  
  Last season, Young has both a higher Def and Off rating than RJ…even while scoring fewer points per 36.
  
  All of the other stats point to RJ being a far more effective player. The only two things I see are that Young is a better 3PT shooter, and he’s 2 years younger.
  - Sean McLaughlin
    
    I have yet to be convinced of this whole “pure shooter” thing the front office says about him. (with the exception of D-Leage play) He really underwhelms in the shooting department as far as I’m concerned. We shall see how this works out, but I’m hoping for trade. Maybe package him with Olynyk for a 3rd round pick and a bucket of nails, then pull Yabusele away from Europe to be playing with the roster on which he belongs… 😛
    - Curt Hays
      
      I’m with you. Young really isn’t showing anything. I don’t think he had a lot of potential to begin with. My perception from this chair is that he has a low basketball IQ.
      
      The Kelly-hate is uncalled for. You know he’s going to be huge for this team.
      
      I also agree that the dancing bear could be fun, but Kelly is more valuable for wins.
      - Sean McLaughlin
        
        lol, had to add the Canadian just for you! But yeah, being impressive in D-League doesn’t constitute an NBA caliber player… We’ve heard time and time again that Danny loves him and he’s just young. 2 years now he’s been “young” and no real improvement on offense. Minimal improvement on defense, granted, but not enough to impress this fan…
      - Curt Hays
        
        I’m right there with you. I am still blown away by how YOUNG he is.
        
        #stophatin
      - Sean McLaughlin
        
        agreed
        
        #f***yourlankycanadianwithnocourtvision
      - Curt Hays
        
        #stopagreeingwithme
      - Sean
        
        Met RJs pops 2 weeks ago I wanted him to stay Young is TRASH.
Jester00

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1e428f422a2895d5c85f00564a98d4437f94296e6c707552d6b5dc18216dc83a.jpg
zippittyay

That would have been a good poll question……
Jester00

let’s face the fact they are not game changers!! LETS GET READY FOR TIP OFF
Sean

Im praying this is all so some dummy team can give us picks for young.
RedsLoveChild

RJ Hunter was the “compensation pick” for Doc Rivers.

Leave it to Danny Ainge to draft a guy whose NBA playing future is NO better than the NBA playing future of a 55 year old Doc Rivers!

Young`s NBA dream will also soon be taken off life support, as will Ryan Kelly`s.
- jrleftfoot
  
  name a ” compensation pick” who has ever been a game changer…. teams very rarely get anything for coaches who leave before their contracts expire
  - RedsLoveChild
    
    Nobody was asking him to draft a “game-changer”.
    
    But, was it asking too much for him to use that 1st round pick to select someone who at least “vaguely resembled” an NBA calibre player?!?
    
    At the end of the day…by drafting Hunter, Boston got absolutely nothing for Rivers bolting to the Clippers.
    - jrleftfoot
      
      Ainge got a draft pick that didn`t pan out. There is seldom compensation when coaches leave a job.Some of the things you complain about are simply absurd
      - RedsLoveChild
        
        I only complain about Ainge. Period.
        
        In 13+ plus years on the job, he`s given us who are critical of his performance far too much to work with.
      - jrleftfoot
        
        Maybe so, but this isn`t one of them. You lose credibility when you whine indiscriminately.
      - RedsLoveChild
        
        Tell me what good it does to get a the compensation pick…if Ainge is only going to piss it away on a guy like Hunter.
        
        He does stuff like this all the time. He will set himself up for potential success…then squander the opportunity every time.
        
        Ainge will always find a way to “fumble inside the 5 yard line”.
        
        If he were an NFL quarterback, he`d rack up tremendous yardage between the 20 yard lines…only to get intercepted at the goal line.
jrleftfoot

As is so too often the case, I disagree with most everybody here. James Young can maintain a position on the court because he has worked hard to develop an NBA body. He has actually shot the ball better at every level than Hunter has, can play in the post, and while he hasn`t made the spectacular plays RJ has ( once in a blue moon) , he hasn`t thrown the ball into the seats or fired up airballs from the parking lot nearly as often either. Brian Scalabrine called this one several days ago. Yes, James Young is 2 years younger than Hunter, but I don`tthink that`s the tiebreaker. He is also bigger, stronger , and more versatile. Hunter made one shot in the NCAAs and has been living off it ever since.—- dodging brickbats
- Andre
  
  I think a great number of your arguments do come down to age/time in the league. Young has an NBA body…well he didn’t in his 1st year, but he was given time to develop this attribute. Young has been far too timid to do anything impactful. Likely due to being more seasoned, he did allows things to come to him a bit more and had better shot selection.
  - jrleftfoot
    
    I don`t disagree with anything you are saying. Young is better now, though,and well, now is when the choice had to be made. However , I never saw the tendency to become panic- stricken in Young that I have seen in Hunter. Timidity isn`t exactly how I would describe James Young`s play. Maybe last year, but not now. I would use the word ” reticence” lol. I happen to prefer it to Hunter`s helter-skelter, occasionally spectacular but often ” wtf was that?” style.Whether either one will ever be a competent NBA player is highly questionable, but I think Young is more likely to do so
theGoofster

Ok, now let’s trade Young and Zeller for a 3rd round pick and everything will be good!!!!

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